Sommerville v. State

OPINION

FONES, Chief Justice.

Sommerville’s second trial, following reversal of his first conviction, resulted in a higher sentence. Nine of the jurors at the second trial acknowledged, on voir dire examination on November 14, 1972, they had read a newspaper article in the November 13, 1972 edition of the Paris Post-Intelli- gencer, reporting Sommerville’s first conviction and a sentence of twenty years and a day.

Thus, the issue mentioned, but neither involved nor decided in Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U.S. 17, 93 S.Ct. 1977, 36 L.Ed.2d 714 (1973), is presented. Is the rule announced in North…